Who played the gas station attendant Gomer Pyle?

Jim Nabors played the gas station attendant Gomer Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show.

Nabors first appeared as Gomer in the third-season episode “Man in a Hurry.” Gomer was a friendly, naïve, and easily flustered gas station employee whose distinctive speech and good-natured personality quickly made him popular with viewers. The role was originally intended as a one-time appearance.

Andy Griffith discovered Nabors performing at The Horn, a Santa Monica nightclub, and recognized that his comic character work could suit the show. Gomer’s popularity led to a larger role and eventually to the spin-off Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., which premiered in 1964. In that series, Gomer joins the Marines and frequently clashes with the demanding Sergeant Vince Carter, played by Frank Sutton.

Gomer is sometimes confused with other Mayberry figures, including mechanic Goober Pyle, portrayed by George Lindsey. Goober was Gomer’s cousin and later became a major character, but he was not the original gas station attendant. Jim Nabors also became known as a singer and for performing “Back Home Again in Indiana” at the Indianapolis 500.